I’m using Heimdall to easily access my self hosted stuff ATM. I would like for my family to use them too if they’re so inclined, but there’s no way they will be able to remember the IP addresses, I know I can’t!
Is it a DNS I’m looking for? If so, I’m already hosting a couple of instances of Adguard, can I just set it so that Plex is 192.xxx.x.47 and snapdrop is 192.xxx.x.53 and use that to resolve the request so my 13 year old can just type Plex into his browser and find it?
Or do I need something like Caddy or Nginx or something in between?
Thanks for any advice.
i wouldnt say im an expert at it as ive only had my media server for a month now, but how i approached making it user friendly was buying a domain name, and using a cloudflare tunnel to link your ip addresses/port to a subdomain.domain combination.
e.g i have overseer accessible by overseerr.domainname.extention and have it linked to the servers ipadress and port number. if i wanted to add another one, i would for example add a new subdomain and do the same (e.g plex.domainname.extention and point it to the correct ip/port combo)
although this has the cost of owning a domain, it doesnt require you to open a port so its better for security reasons
I have done this with Home Assistant. It’s at ha.mydomain.com after I treated myself to a domain for Christmas.
The only issue I have with this is that my server is a hole in my lan.
I have a pretty good password on my HA but that can’t be said for any of my internal stuff.
Plus I’ve since discovered the amazing world of Tailscale and I’m fiddling with that. I didn’t realise it was so easy to always be on my own network even when I’m not, I found a setting on android that means I’m always in my Tailnet. This makes me wonder if the domain was a waste of money (it wasn’t) but then remember there’s more than just me in the house, and I use the domain for prescence detection by having my family install the HA app, logged in through the domain.
I shall certainly use this method in the future if any of my family want access to anything while they’re out and about, but I could probably just set em up on Tailscale and share it that way with less hassle
FYI there’s an option between opening ports and TailScale. Cloudflare tunnels have a connection started from within your network to cloudflare servers, and your internal services can be accessed through that connection. Throw a zero trust wall in front of that, and you have a secure login, in front of your now publicly accessible services.
Home Assistant even has an addon for it.
Ace! Thanks. There’s so much to delve into in networking, it’s a bit daunting tbh.
That’s why I asked, when you know a little but not a lot it’s hard trying to figure out where to look.
At least by asking I have some ideas where to start poking my nose.